What Your Sleep Reveals About Your Leadership!

What Keeps You Up at Night?

What keeps you up at night? When I was President and CEO of our company, I had four main issues that would keep me up at night:

• People

• Money/Financing

• Government Regulations

• Meeting Consumers needs

I learned that I could NOT control most of these challenges. But I could control how I responded concerning them. And how I responded had everything to do with my core values.

Once I discovered my Core Values “who I was,” and my core values, I had more peace when dealing with issues that I could and could not control. Also, I began to sleep great at night. And you can too!

As Christian leaders we know we can have peace that is more than the physical realities of this world. We have faith that the spiritual impacts the physical of this world. Our faith gives us confidence in the work the Lord is already doing. Hebrews 11:1 states,

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Every organization has core values. But not all organizations know their core values.

Do you know your core values?

Insight: Core values are driven by the founder, owner, president, or leader of an organization’s division or department. And the core values must be discovered NOT “set” by the leader.

For most leaders, as your business goes, so goes your sleep – or lack thereof!  Think about your own sleep patterns as we look at three types of organizations.

Sleepless Nights

Most organizations are being led by a leader who does not know “who they are.” Therefore, the employees do not know “who they are.”

Your team, therefore, doesn’t know how they are to behave with customers, suppliers, and with their co-workers. Or if you are a ministry there is a disconnect between who they are serving and why they are there.

Since your people are hired with such a variety and diverse set of core values, there is a lack of cohesiveness and unity of spirit. Without a common set of core values, there is little teamwork to make the dream work.

It is sad that most of these organizations are working very hard every day and trying to do the right thing. But they are underperforming, and the results are suffering. And they don’t even know why.

A Better Night’s Sleep

A small number of organizations are being led by a leader who does know “who they are.” The core values were announced at a one-time, short meeting. And those values may even be on a plaque as you enter the office.

That’s it. And I mean, that’s it.

The employees may remember hearing about the core values when they were announced. But they could not tell you what they are or even what they mean.

Therefore, the team does not understand how they should behave when interacting with and connecting with customers, suppliers, and their co-workers.

These organizations do not have systems in place to assure alignment of core values:

• Core values are not considered during the interview process. Consequently, a candidate’s level of competence (job skills) gets over-emphasized during the interview.

• During the onboarding/new person’s orientation, core values are not discussed or even mentioned.

• People are never evaluated on how well they exemplify the organization’s core values.

• Incentives/bonuses may even encourage people to violate one or more core values.

[Tweet “What is not expected…and what does not get inspected…does not get done. – Bobby Albert “]

Financially, these organizations are performing OK… But if they only knew… they could “knock the ball out of the park”! How? Let’s look at the next type of organization.

A Great Night’s Sleep

Only a very few organizations “substantially” outperform all others.

There is shocking evidence of the financial performance of these great, enduring organizations from Jim Collins’ research in his book, Built to Last.

It is about getting disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and who then take disciplined action. – Jim Collins

Jim Collins is saying when you have “disciplined people”…people who are intentional and guided by the same core values… you produce superior results.

And it starts with the hiring practices – hiring people with the same core values.

Leaders of this type of organization have learned what is more important than a powerful strategy, a super product, the newest technology…It is an organization of people with the same core values.

And the people KNOW how to behave as they pursue the organization’s purpose, vision, strategies, tactics, and performance goals.

• What is keeping you up at night?
• Would you like to sleep great tonight?
• Do you know “who you are?”

Listen with us on True North Leader as we interview Michael Buckingham and How Christian Leaders Can Connect Employees to the Mission. This lesson will change the way you engage your people and help you sleep a little better at night.

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